Meet the Author

The FermentedlyChallenged blog has been retired since the end of October 2016. It has been a great 9 year run. Thanks to all the readers and brewery staff for all your support in the past. I'm living in the Denver metro area and working in the Cable TV industry now. Cheers and enjoy beer responsibly. Follow along on social media - @ChipperDave on Twitter and on Facebook.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Red shoes, a shovel, a garden and a beer. That's the new image that New Belgium Brewing is bringing with their upcoming Spring seasonal beer called New Belgium Dig Pale Ale.

Word has spread fast in the interwebs that New Belgium would be replacing their current Spring seasonal Mighty Arrow with something new. And something new is indeed on it's way as evidence of their new label has come to light. Dig, a Pale Ale, will take over for the retiring Mighty Arrow in the Spring of 2012 once their Winter seasonal Snow Day takes a nap.

New Belgium's label describes this beer as follows:

"Unearth your bottle-opener because this Pale Ale is something you can Dig. Sorachi Ace hops provides a fresh Spring zing with incredible lemon aroma. Nelson Sauvin is next in line with bursts of passion fruit, mango and peach. American favorites, Cascade and Centennial round out this crisp, clean Pale Ale. Dig in!"
The addition of Sorachi Ace hops has peaked my interest. I had the opportunity to taste another beer recently that highlights this lemony aroma hop - Brooklyn Brewery's Sorachi Ace (a saison). If Dig happens to smell anything like that one did then we are all in for a treat.

Lover's of Mighty Arrow will undoubtedly be upset that their favorite seasonal is being retired, but as New Belgium has stated on their social media sites, it won't necessarily be gone forever. Chances are high that Mighty Arrow is now like the other recently retired seasonals from New Belgium and will mark a return in a couple years or so.

The new Dig Pale Ale will weigh in at 5.6% ABV and is best served cold around 45 degrees according to the label. Look for it in six-packs come the Spring.

I personally welcome a change of pace and the seasonals. Change can be good and mixing things up a bit will help grow demand for brewers to explore some of these new hop strains that are now starting to become popular.